Sheet Metal - A New Product Review

by Pam East

There is a really interesting new product out on the market that I’m testing right now. I thought I’d give ya’ll a review. My results are mixed. The good news is really good, but the down sides are significant.

First the good stuff.

It’s called Sheet Metal, and It comes in just about any metal or alloy you can think of or would want. You can get it pre-rolled to any thickness you like too! Gram for gram, it’s far less expensive than any brand of metal clay on the market.

Are you ready for this? The product DOESN’T NEED FIRING! You don’t need a kiln at all! It’s even pretty smooth and polished on arrival. Doesn’t take much effort at all to bring it up to a mirror shine. It held up fantastic to my bend and twist tests. I bent it 360 degrees and twisted it into a spiral. I could tie this stuff in knots without breaking it. Just amazing.

But then there’s the downside.

My rubber stamps made no impression at all. No matter what I did, it just will not take a texture with my stamps! And cutting out a shape with my template and needle tool? I only got the barest scratches. I was forced to use something called a saw to make even the most basic shapes. It took forever and still needed massive cleanup. I had to use a metal file to clean up the edges. My damp sponge tip applicator had no effect.

When I went to join two pieces together things got even worse. With my regular silver clay, I can pretty much just dampen the two pieces and they stick together just fine. With this I was finally forced to use a torch to get the pieces put together, and it looked pretty messy when I was done. There was a lot of clean up left.

All in I’m not sure this new product is going to take off. The price is good and you don’t need a kiln, which is a plus. But it’s just so hard to use. The learning curve is steep and you need to invest in a whole new set of tools just to work with it.

I’m sure somebody will do something with Sheet Metal, but for myself. I’m sticking to my good old metal clay.